IRRIGATION BY FILTERED SEWERAGE WATER. 
6. N. Sookori, 'Wallich. — An evergreen stove Fern, from India and the Mauritius. Fronds slender, elongate, 
three feet long, light green, pinnate ; lower pinna? very small, deltoid, deflexed, gradually increasing in length as 
they ascend the rachis, becoming on the upper half elongate-acute, pinnatilid, four inches long, suh-petiolate, 
auriculate, and truncate-cuneate at the base. Sori scattered on the upper half of the frond. This Fern is very 
rare in collections ; the only cultivated frond we have seen was obligingly sent us by Mr. Henderson, of Went- 
worth, who obtained the plant from the Botanic Garden of Sheffield, where it was imported a few years ago 
among some Orchids. 
♦ 
IRRIGATION BY FILTERED SEWERAGE WATER. 
By Mr. J. TOWERS, Corresponding Member of Horticultural and Royal Agricultural Societies. 
7JIHE reading public who feel an interest in the fertilizing effects produced by the application of fluid 
Iv drainage, must admit that the pastures round the city of Edinburgh have solved the problem 
which has of late been so much studied by those connected with sanitary improvements. I propose to 
come nearer home, and to offer a plain recital of effects which have come under repeated observation 
within a mile of my residence. 
The great objection to sewerage manure is the offensive odour which it in general diffuses : but that 
arises in almost every instance from the accumulation of fecal matters in those tanks or cesspools, 
wherein fermentation rapidly takes place, and from which foul hydro-sulphurous gases are extricated. 
If cesspools were abandoned (and this will be the case very shortly under the regulations of the Croydon 
Board of Health), and all the waste fluid and excrete of every establishment made to pass away by 
means of glazed drain-tubes, as fast as they are produced, and then simply filtered through sand and 
charcoal dust, not a particle of offensive or fetid matter would exist that could taint the air for 
a single yard. At the establishment I have in view, the dwelling and offices stand on a hill from 
which there is a sharp descent to the garden. The situation furnishes a natural and easy fall for all 
the fluid matters that pass from the several closets, the laundry, and house sinks. These are first 
received in a cylindrical excavation, about half-way down the sloping bank, furnished with a quantity 
of loose sandy earth, which acts as a filter, to arrest any solid matters that might obstruct the flow of 
the liquid. Below, but nearly adjoining the first receiver, is another made water tight, capable of 
containing several hundred gallons.. From this vessel, the now clear, and almost colourless sewerage, 
is distributed by moveable troughs, or iron pipes, directed, according to the object in view, to any plot 
or portion of the garden. Besides Asparagus, Rhubarb, large plots of Strawberries, and every required 
routine vegetable — any or all of which are irrigated in due course. There are portions of the ground 
devoted to mere experimental purposes. Thus there is a large plot of Lucerne, and another of grass, 
which is the peculiar object of this notice. The grass consisted of turves collected from a part of the 
adjoining hill, without any discrimination. It was laid down early in 1850 on the prepared surface of 
the garden, where the soil is naturally much better than that from whence it was raised. The sewer- 
age was cautiously applied when growth was established, and again let on from time to time. The 
spring proved dry, and occasionally warm ; and three cuttings with the scythe were taken between 
April and October, the latter inclusive. The processes have been renewed this year, and I have seen 
the grass thick at bottom, and from thirty inches to a yard in height. The first or second cuttings of 
the present year yield an average equivalent to more than 50,000 lbs. of green fodder per acre, or of 
10,000 lbs. of dried hay (4| tons). Now, if this statement be correct, and the experiments pass as a 
standard of what the sewerage of a homestead may produce, how great would be the profit when 
compared with that of our ordinary pastures. 
I have stated a few plain facts that have come under my own occasional inspection, and now shall 
appeal to the authority of Dr. Thomas Anderson, consulting chemist of the Highland Society, from 
whose analysis of the Edinburgh sewerage water, we obtain, perhaps, the most correct information 
which has as yet been given concerning the elements of such manures. The sample analysed was 
taken from the mouth of the sewer just as it enters the irrigated meadows near Lochend. 
Peroxide of iron and alumina, 
2.01 
Lime, 
10.50 
Magnesia, 
2.00 , 
Sulphuric acid, 
6.09 , 
Phosphoric acid, 
6.14 , 
Chlorine, 
Potash, 
12.20 , 
2.89 , 
Soda, 
13.27 , 
Silica, 
6.50 , 
105.20 grains in the gallon. 
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